My love-hate relationship with exercise

I’ve been a competitor as long as I can remember. There wasn’t a sport I wouldn’t play as a kid. I didn’t legitimately start exercising until I was 15 years old. That’s when I joined the football weight training program.

Ever since I loved what exercise has done for me. My muscles grew bigger and my mind grew stronger. It literally transformed my body physically and mentally into a different person.

That doesn’t mean I don’t struggle to get up every morning and train. I’m human. I have feelings. I get tired. I get aches and pains just like you.

Owning a business for over 7 years there’s a stereotype about gym owners that place us on a pedestal. Many believe we train 5 hours a day, never get hurt, always eat “healthy”, sleep 8+ hours a night and drink over a gallon of water a day.

The truth is that isn’t the truth.

Much like you, we struggle with the same things.

With the many obligations that I have as a gym owner, husband, father, and college student, exercise is usually the last thing on my mind. I usually forget to eat. And most of the time I forget to drink water until my lips feel like they’re about to fall off. Deep sleep these days are a luxury that gets sprinkled into a handful of weekends a year.

My love-hate relationship with exercise is that as much as I love the benefits it provides I sometimes hate the discipline it takes to get results. I recognize and accept that this isn’t a personal feeling. That deep down inside, every one of us we deal with the same struggle.

In order to overcome this obstacle, I feel its important that we remain more open and honest about this reality. It’s the power of many, a community of like-minded people, that we overcome these thoughts and do what we know is good for us. I have found that by acknowledging this battle of mind-over-matter I have more peace about not being perfect and that’s okay.